WASHINGTON, D.C. — Disputes in the House have held up subsidies that Amtrak officials say are critically needed, adding an extra measure of uncertainty to the embattled rail system’s future, according to a report in The Hill, a newspaper for and about the U.S. Congress.
One dispute pits Republican lawmakers against some of Amtrak’s unions and centers on labor provisions in a pending bill (H.R. 2959) to build high-speed rail lines.
The other dispute is between the House GOP leadership and the Democrats over whether infrastructure projects must comply with federal hiring rules.
As matters stand, Amtrak has enough money to operate only until the end of the fiscal year — Sept. 30. So Congress must either approve a transportation appropriations bill or pass a continuing resolution.
However, it appears that the reauthorizing drive is dead, at least until the next Congress, even though moving the funding legislation forward is important to stabilize Amtrak, staff members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure say.
With Amtrak teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, Congress appropriated $305 million in emergency money earlier this year so the rail system would continue otherwise, after David Gunn, its new president, threatened to shut down the system.
Then, in August, Amtrak experienced more costly troubles when the Acela high-speed trains on the heavily traveled Northeast corridor were shut down after cracks were discovered in the tracks. The disagreement hinges on labor provisions in the bill, which would provide up to $59 billion through a combination of tax-exempt bonds and tax credit bonds to finance building and improving high-speed rail corridors. The bill is stalled in the full Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Initially, the legislation, known as RIDE21, was blocked by an internal labor dispute over whether workers in the railroad unions or building trades union would build the high-speed rail lines.
Aides familiar with the negotiations said that Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), who chairs the panel, told the unions to work out their disagreements and come back to the committee after the dispute was settled.
Following several weeks of negotiations, the railroad and building trade unions managed to reach a compromise on who would do the work. Part of the deal required that competitors to Amtrak, who could build and operate the new railways, adopt the same contract and labor rules that apply to Amtrak’s employees.
According to congressional testimony, Amtrak feared being unable to compete with potential newcomers who would not have to abide by the same collective bargaining agreements under which the company operates.
Earlier this year Congress reformed the railroad retirement system and unions feared that non-union contractors would not contribute to the retirement system, leaving it vulnerable to insolvency. The requirement that potential competitors operate as closed union shops was too much for Young to swallow, a committee aide said. “There is no federal law anywhere that to bid on a federally financed construction project you have to be a unionized shop,” he added.
Young wanted to move ahead on RIDE21, together with H.R. 4545, which would reauthorize $1.2 billion in Amtrak subsidies for fiscal year 2003.
Democrats dispute the Republicans’ version of why the reauthorizing legislation has been effectively killed. They assert the disagreement is a larger one and far more elementary.
“They don’t want to bring this to the floor because of the Davis-Bacon provisions,” says Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn), referring to requirements that federal projects to be built by union workers at union wage rates.
“Young and I are in agreement on the legislation. It is the Republican leadership that won’t allow any legislation to come to the floor with Davis-Bacon provisions,” he said.
Oberstar also said that the House Republican Leadership has similar objections to the Water Resources Development Act Reauthorization, which still needs to be marked up by the same committee.
Meanwhile, Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee, has delayed scheduling a transportation appropriations bill.
In the Senate, where Amtrak enjoys wider support, a committee-approved transportation-spending bill includes a $1.2 billion appropriation for fiscal 2003, which is more than double the administration’s request of $521 million.
“It is just one more year where nothing gets done,” lamented Scott Leonard, the assistant director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers. “Genrally, travel goes up. Highway and airport construction don’t keep up. And these disagreements keep us from building more rail.”